"After my death our beloved Church abroad will break three ways .... first the Greeks will leave us as they were never a part of us ... then those who live for this world and its glory will go to Moscow ... what will remain will be those souls faithful to Christ and His Church." St. Philaret of NY 1985

Canon St. Andrew - Call to Repentance

THE CANON OF SAINT ANDREW OF CRETE – A CALL TO REPENTANCE

As you can see and hear for yourselves, beloved brothers and sisters, the great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete is exclusively filled with the spirit of profound repentance. It was compiled by the great saint of the Orthodox Church Saint Andrew of Crete, and in this canon he judges himself in everything, humbles himself, and as the worst of sinners asks God for the remission of his sins.

It sometimes happens that a person suddenly wakes up, aroused by his conscience, especially when he has until then led a dissipated life, not having thought about God, or his soul, or about eternity. And then all of a sudden the Light of truth shines upon his soul, and in this Light he sees himself in all his wretchedness. At this point the Church comes to meet this sinner who has realized his extreme irresponsibility and guilt with examples of other people who repented and were able to raise themselves up from the abyss of sin right up to heaven. Therefore, a person who repents should never fall into despair. He needs to humble himself when his conscience is pricked by his sins and his soul is afflicted. He needs to humble himself before God, realize that he is unfit in all respects and good for nothing, but never despair!

We heard in this canon about St. Mary of Egypt. It seemed that she could not have fallen any lower than she did, having completely desecrated her feminine honor and dignity, but repentance made her a bride of Christ, as the Church says. The Venerable Zosimas, himself a great saint, saw how she crossed the Jordan River as if it were dry land, and in prayer she rose up off the ground toward heaven. This is what repentance can accomplish in anyone who truly repents.

The repentance of St. Mary of Egypt was prolonged – she may have sinned a long time, but she spent even more time repenting until she became an ‘earthly angel and a heavenly man’. A different example is the wise thief who repented only a few hours before he died on the cross in the midst of cruel suffering, and yet what did he hear? He merely asked the Lord not to forget him, but to remember him when He comes into His Kingdom. And, as we have said many times before, the Lord loves to give us more than what we ask, and the thief heard this reply: “Today [not when I come, but TODAY] you will be with Me in Paradise” (Lk. 23:43). Having this example of how a person who had sinned all his life but came to his senses at the very end, an Orthodox person has no right to despair or fear that his repentance will be rejected when he knows that the repentance of the wise thief was accepted.

Here we will also remember St. John Chrysostom, whom the Church calls the ‘preacher of repentance’, in that he liked to emphasize that where there is repentance, there is undoubtedly the mercy of God. He said that the Lord binds His mercy with a person’s repentance. Not without reason, already in the Old Testament, the Lord said that if a person comes to him with sincere repentance, “although your sins are like crimson, I shall make them white like snow, and although they are as scarlet, I shall make them white like wool” (Is. 1:18). Therefore, in realizing your sinfulness and wretchedness, at the same time remember that genuine repentance is a feeling not just of sorrow and worthlessness, but also of joy, because we know that if we sincerely repent, the Lord will not reject us, but instead welcome us as He received the prodigal son. Amen.

RUSSIAN

Audio

"And here is something to which I would like to draw your attention to – something about which very many do not think about. Father Archimandrite Constantine, whom probably many of you know, the reposed editor of the journal “Orthodox Rus’”, a profound Christian mind, considered that the most terrible among all the achievements of the communists was that the communists created their own false-church, a soviet church which they shoved onto the unfortunate people in place of the genuine Church which went underground into the catacombs. Do not think that I am exaggerating or that Father Constantine was exaggerating!

Once, in the year 1918, a Pan-Russian Church Council was held. At this Council, the entire Pan-Russian Church together with its first holy hierarch, Patriarch Tikhon ANATHEMATIZED, excommunicated from the Church not only the theomachists and godless ones themselves, but also ALL THOSE WHO WOULD COLLABORATE WITH THEM."

ETC.

Prayer to St. Philaret

O our Saintly father Philaret, God chosen confessor of recent times, true Orthodox hierarch, guide, upholder and dependable intercessor before God for all true Orthodox faithful, standing and praying for them before God’s altar: implore our ever benevolent God to forgive us our sins and wash them away through our repentance. Through your prayers, save us from calumny of the godless and endow us with a fear of God, so that we may remain faithful children of Christ’s True Church to the end. Strengthen us in the confession of our Faith, so that we will not be frightened of persecution or suffering, and should we suffer for our Orthodox Faith, grant us strength not to reject Christ and not to accept the mark of the accursed antichrist.

In not hiding your labours and enduring extreme conditions for the sake of True Orthodoxy, we extol and propagate your good works:

Glorifying the Royal Martyrs and the new Russian Confessors of Orthodoxy; for giving all true Orthodox Christians a true Apostolic succession; for anathematizing ecumenism that is the heresy of all heresies, and maintaining the rightness of authority through the unwavering truth of Christ’s words.

We lay before you our prayer for your help, blessing and intercession, and at all times beseech your prayers for us.

Do not cease to utter prayers to the Lover of Man God for the small flock of true Orthodox Christians, and may He grant peace to his Church, and may He deliver Her from heresies and schisms. May He also deliver us from the darkness of sin and lusts, from the clandestine snares of the sly antichrist, and may we remain steadfast unto death in confessing our holy Orthodoxy, so that in the end we may without condemnation receive Communion of the Lord’s Holy Flesh and Blood from true clergy. And at the close of our lives, may we secure mercy and clemency from the Lord, Who created us and gave us life and made us what we are, and to Whom is due every glory, praise, honour and adoration, with the eternal Father and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages.

Amen

PRAYER

O Hierarch of Christ Philaret, with contrition of heart we glorify thee and entreat thee. Having boldness before the Holy Trinity, One in essence and undivided, intercede that the Russian Church not be divided: that the Lord keep it from being cut asunder, as St. Mark of Ephesus plead; may He save it from ruptures in its body, as prayed the Hierarch Philaret of Moscow; and may He preserve also the lot of thine episcopate, the Russian diaspora, scattered among the nations, instructing them in the Orthodox Faith, bearing unfeigned witness to the truth, confessing the faith of the holy fathers, preserving the language of Saints Methodius and Cyril in the order of the divine services, and celebrating the feasts of the Church of Christ as of old.

Through thy prayers, may the Lord grant the wisdom of serpents and the purity of doves to His hierarchs, apostolic love and prophetic zeal, the patience and sympathy and total forgiveness of Christ. That He confirm the pastors in care for their spiritual children, teaching them to flee the attractions of this fallen world, that He enrich their knowledge with the glad tidings of the Gospel, keep their hands impartial to filthy lucre, direct their feet to preaching the Gospel of peace, preserve their hearts in purity. That He grant monastics the spirit of obedience, chastity, self-restraint, observing the monastic rules, confirmed in nonpossessiveness. And to the people of God, the infants, young boys and girls, men and women and the aged may He grant health of soul and body, the spirit of faith, the spirit of love, the spirit of loyalty to their Orthodox faith. And for all of us to acquire blessedness and inherit the heavenly Kingdom. Amen

Tone III

The Hierarchs of Christ today stand in the assembly of the Saints * and with the angelic choirs pray to God for us; * together with them also the Hierarch of the Lord Philaret * a canon of faith and icon of meekness * who appeared to his flock as a teacher of continence * having acquired by humility things lofty and by poverty riches * he intercedeth for our souls.

Tone IV

Graced with an apostolic mind * enthroned with the Hierarchs of the Russian Church * divinely wise cultivator of the Russian diaspora * confessor of the love of Christ * zealot of Orthodoxy * Holy Father Philaret our Hierarch * entreat Christ our God * to establish spiritual unity in the Church of our Fathers * and to save our souls.

Troparion Tone IV

From childhood thou gavest thyself wholly to the Lord, abiding in prayer, labors and fasting, O God-bearing Philaret, and becamest a model of shining virtue for thy flock; therefore, beholding thy pious disposition, God appointed thee a shepherd and valiant hierarch for His Church, and after thy repose preserved thy holy body incorrupt. Wherefore, beseech Him fervently that He save our souls.

Kontakion Tone II

SPEC. MEL. "SEEKING THE HIGHEST"

Ascending on thy virtues as upon a fiery chariot, thou art united to the noetic ranks on high, O Philaret. Wherefore, thou art now a converser with the angels, O holy one, praying unceasingly with them to Christ God in behalf of us all.

HYMN TONE 3

O Holy Confessor, Philaret, Intercessor for the remnant, Thy holy relics were revealed to us on St. Michael's day, Confounding the enemy, And strengthening us for the trials to come. Thou art a sure guide on the Royal Path. O Blessed leadership! O steadfast truth-lover, Pray to God for us.

QUOTE

A man who does not express a desire to link himself to the latest of the saints (in time) in all love and humility owing to a certain distrust in himself, will never be linked to the preceding saints and will not be admitted to their succession, even though he thinks he possesses all possible faith and love for God and for all His saints. He will be cast out of their midst, as one who refused to take humbly the place allotted to him by God before all time, and to link himself to that latest saint (in time) as God had disposed.